Malaysia's October exports at RM54.28b, highest in 10 months

Written by Joseph Chin
Friday, 04 December 2009 18:43

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's exports rose to RM54.28 billion in October 2009, the highest monthly exports recorded in the last 10 months, underpinned by exports of electrical and electronic (E&E) products.

The Malaysia External Trade Development Corp (Matrade) said on Friday, Dec 4 that total exports in October 2009, were 15% higher than September's RM47.19 billion.

Imports increased by 12.9% to RM42.81 billion in October 2009 and total trade increased by 14.1% to RM97.09 billion. Trade surplus of RM11.47 billion was recorded in October 2009, making it the 144th consecutive month of trade surplus since November 1997.

"On a year-on-year basis, exports increased by 1.6%. This was the first positive growth after 12 consecutive months of contraction. Imports were lower by 2.3% and total trade contracted by 0.2%, while trade surplus rose by 19.3%," it said.

Matrade said the higher in exports in October 2009 were driven by E&E products, crude petroleum, liquefied natural gas (LNG), wood products, optical and scientific equipment as well as manufactures of metal.

E&E products accounted for RM23.36 billion or 43% of total exports; palm oil (RM3.49 billion or 6.4% of total exports) and chemicals and chemical products (RM3.13 billion or 5.8% of total exports).

China was the single largest export market, with exports rising by 1.2% to RM6.78 billion from a month ago, underpinned by higher exports of E&E products, chemicals and chemical products as well as crude rubber. Exports to the China in October 2009 rose by 39.2% from a year ago.

Matrade said exports to the European Union (EU) increased by 15.2% to RM6.14 billion from September 2009. The increase was due to higher exports of E&E products, palm oil, optical and scientific equipment as well as crude rubber. Compared with October 2008, exports rose 0.6%.

Exports to the US increased by 24.5% to RM5.94 billion from September, mainly due to higher exports of E&E products, refined petroleum products, optical and scientific equipment as well as wood products. However, year-on-year, exports fell 7.7%.

Exports to Japan were RM5.09 billion, up 16.8% from September 2009. This resulted from higher exports of E&E products, crude petroleum, wood products and refined petroleum products. However, when compared with October last year, exports fell 15.3%.

Matrade said October's trade data showed imports fell 2.3% to RM42.81 billion in October from a year ago. Intermediate goods totalled RM28.97 billion or 67.7% of total imports; capital goods (RM6.43 billion or 15% of total imports); and consumption goods (RM2.7 billion or 6.3% of total imports).

Major import products were E&E products valued at RM15.17 billion or 35.4% of total imports; machinery, appliances and parts (RM3.61 billion or 8.4% of total imports); chemicals and chemical products (RM3.54 billion or 8.3% of total imports).